284 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



The oldest iron hooks known are those found in the ramparts of Old 

 Liibeck. As Old Liibeck was surprised and entirely de^itroyed by Eoce, 

 Priuce of Eiigeu, in 1138, and as the new city was not built in the same 

 place, the jjeriod from which these hooks date is well defined. The 

 smaller of the two is evidently much older than the larger, and the 

 properties of the metal have been so little utilized as to justify the sup- 

 l)osition that this hook dates from the beginning of'the Iron Age, while 

 the hirger isclearly of much more recentdate. Here we find well-known 

 forms reminding us of the hooks which we used in our boyhood's days. 

 There is, of course, as yet, a great difference between these hooks and 

 those found in the ramparts of Old Liibeck, for even the most inexperi- 

 enced boy would hardly use such gigantic hooks, and even in those days 

 so clumsy a beard would have been laughed at ; but as to its general 

 plan this hook does not differ much from the well-known hooks formerly 

 used in Germany. 



I will mention an old darre which was found near Alt-Bliesdorf, dis- 

 trict of Ober-Barnim, and now in the collection of Mr. Wallbaum in 

 Sucow. It has the size and shape of a tablespoon without a handle, but 

 is quite flat, and made of copper. At the broad end there is a hole for 

 the line, while the pointed end is inclosed by a shuttle-shaped double 

 copper cover (resembling a shell), from which protrudes a medium-sized 

 iron hook of good shape. Spoon and hook are, therefore, firmly con- 

 nected by this cover by means of three pegs. This implement very 

 closely resembles the spoon-shaped darres which are still in common 

 use. 



The merit of having fashioned hooks from steel, according to rational 

 principles, and answering manifold purposes, belongs undoubtedly to 

 the English. Max von dem Borne has described these hooks in his 

 well-known work ^^ Angeljischerei" (Line fishing) in the most exhaustive 

 manner. During the year 1880 many different forms of hooks have 

 been brought to our notice througli the Berlin Exposition. Some of 

 these hooks have been developed in certain localities independent of 

 other forms, while some are the artificial i^roducts of industry, and liave 

 been thrown into the market to await the verdict of the fishing public. 



Among the hooks peculiar to certain localities I first mention the 

 Japanese hooks. These have very small beards, and are made of thin 

 wire, v.'hich is more pliable than elastic; this is all the more surprising, as 

 the Japanese are unexcelled in the manufacture of steel. If, therefore, 

 they give their hooks a certain degree of pliability, this is probably inten- 

 tional, and may perhaps be exi)lained by the circumstance that their entire 

 fishing apparatus is exceedingly fine. In Berlin they exhibited rods 

 measuring G meters in length, with a very thin point, and a line which 

 throughout its entire length has only the thickness of a thin horsehair. 

 At the first glance it will be seen that these hooks are entirely original, 

 and considering the very high degree of development to which line-fish- 

 ing has attained in Japan it cannot be doubted that these various forms 



